BNP leads with 209 seats as unofficial election results announced

The unofficial results for the 13th National Parliamentary Election and the Referendum have been released, showing a landslide lead for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and a strong mandate for constitutional change.

The BNP emerged as the dominant force, securing 209 seats. The distribution of the remaining seats is as follows: Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami: 68 seats, National Citizens Party (NCP): 6 seats, Independent Candidates: 7 seats, Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis: 2 seats.

Other parties: One seat each for Islami Andolan Bangladesh, Gono Odhikar Parishad, Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP), Ganosamhati Andolan, and Khelafat Majlis.

The Election Commission noted a robust democratic participation. The National Parliamentary Election saw a voter turnout of 59.44%.

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Simultaneously, the Referendum regarding constitutional amendments recorded a turnout of 60.26%. The referendum results indicate a clear preference for reform: "Yes" Votes: 4,80,74,429, "No" Votes: 2,25,65,627.

The slightly higher turnout for the referendum is attributed to the inclusion of data from the two contested Chittagong seats, which were excluded from the parliamentary count.

Senior Secretary of the Bangladesh Election Commission (EC) Secretariat Akhtar Ahmed revealed the data in a press conference at the commission on Friday (13 February).

In the press conference, he said, "You have been asking since yesterday about the voter turnout percentage. I mentioned that I would share this at the end to avoid any misinformation or confusion; I wanted to provide a comprehensive figure at the conclusion. Let me begin with the percentage: the voter turnout for the National Parliamentary Election is 59.44%. A total of 59.44% of votes were cast."

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He said, “The percentage of cast votes in the referendum is 60.26%. Now, you might wonder why the referendum turnout is slightly higher than the parliamentary election turnout. This is because we are not sharing the results of two specific seats due to court orders. However, there were no such restrictions regarding the referendum for those areas. That is why that data is reflected in this figure.”

In reply to a question, Akhtar Ahmed also said, "The data will be analyzed in many ways. You have to give us some time for this; it cannot be done instantly. However, as I mentioned, you will receive these details. We will be compiling all of this information."